The Flying Papaya Returns
by Smrt333
Summary: Complete. It has been many years since Van last saw the flying papaya on his journey through the fog at Mt. Isolina. Van was told that flying papayas don't exist, but is that true?
1. Breakfast

**This is a ridiculous story I just came up with in my spare time.**

**I do not own Zoids or the characters**

**The DarkMetalist and Raven will be my narrating buddies.**

**Raven: Don't push it; I don't even want to be here.**

**DarkMetalist: Be nice, he invited us here.**

**Chapter 1**

**Breakfast**

It was a normal day on Red River Base and the Guardian Force was enjoying a nice breakfast.

"Van, are you sure you can finish those pancakes?" Irvine asked while his eyes tracked the orange tower three meters up.

"Of course I can" said Van "As soon as I pour this papaya syrup over it."

Irvine watched as Van climbed up a step ladder to reach the top of the pancakes (which were also papaya flavored) and started to eat, rather noisily.

"It's a wonder how that guy eats papayas like no one else." Irvine said to himself as he got up and walked to the others, taking his morning coffee with him.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Irvine said as he approached Moonbay, Thomas, and Fiona who were sitting at a table chatting.

"Oh we were about to make a bet." Moonbay said

"A bet huh?" This got Irvine's attention "On what?"

"On Van, and what he does after eating the pancakes." responded Thomas. He then turned his attention to Moonbay.

"So, I bet you twenty-five bucks that Van tosses his cookies after eating those pancakes." said Moonbay

"You're on; and I bet you fifty bucks that Van passes out after he finishes the last pancake." said Thomas

"Fine" was Moonbay's response. "What about you Irvine, what is your position on what'll happen next?"

"You guys, it's not nice to bet on Van, especially when it happens to concern his well being." said Fiona. Then she took a sip of her salty cup of coffee.

"It's all in good fun Fiona, it's not like we're trying to do something to hurt Van" said Moonbay, "So Irvine, what do you say?"

"I still don't like it" was Fiona's response. Then she got up to get another cup of salty coffee.

" As much as I love to make money, this is somewhat risky, betting on Van is like guessing the exact second of a Zi-quake, it's next to impossible to know when it will happen or what will happen." said Irvine.

"Aw, you're just too chicken to bet." said Thomas

"Look, I can decide when I want to bet and when I can't, I'm not going bet on something as trivial as what happens after Van finishes his pancakes, alright!"

"Geeze sor-ry."

Irvine decided that his time spent eating breakfast should be spent elsewhere and he left the cafeteria. He decided that it would be best to go out in his Lightning Saix to calm down his nerves.

"What was that all about?" Fiona asked when she got back.

"Just a little argument between Irvine and Thomas here." said Moonbay nonchalantly

"It wasn't something that would hurt their friendship would it?"

"Hello Fiona, I'm right here. You don't have to talk like I'm not." said Thomas while waving his hands in her face. "I just called him a chicken and he stormed out."

As soon as Thomas finished talking; she, Thomas, and Fiona heard a thud from behind them. An unnatural thud that was most sickening to hear. They turned around to see an unconscious Van on the floor with a meter of orange pancakes still left on his plate.

"VAN!" Fiona shouted. She put down her coffee and ran over to him to help.

Thomas and Moonbay were still at the table hammering out the details of their bet.

"Moonbay, Thomas get over here! Van needs our help."

"We'll be there in a second Fiona!" said Moonbay

"Well hurry up, Van's hurt!"

"Alright, he passed out before finishing his pancakes, pay up Moonbay." Thomas said eagerly holding out his hands waiting for the money.

After five seconds, he said, "Well, we had a deal, pay up!"

_Fifty bucks, I can finally get something nice for Fiona_, Thomas thought.

"Sorry Thomas, I can't pay you." said Moonbay

"WHAT!" shouted Thomas "We had a deal! Even if you were broke, which I doubt, you would _still_ have to pay me anyway!"

"Thomas, you bet fifty bucks if Van passed out before he finished his _last_ pancake and it appears that there is more than one pancake left."

"Oh, stupid loopholes; I need to work on my wording."

Just then Van involuntarily threw up his pancakes and almost got on Fiona.

_Ewwwww._ Everyone thought.

"I believe you owe me twenty-five dollars."

"What! WHY!"

**In the background:**

"Van I can't believe you almost got your food all over me!"

"Hello! Thomas, Moonbay I could use your help!"

More food came up.

"Eww. Moonbay, Thomas NOW!"

**Back to Moonbay and Thomas:**

"Because I bet that Van would throw up after he ate those pancakes".

Thomas was then going through the process of remembering the conditions Moonbay made when she bet, and found no loopholes in her wording.

"Damn it!"

Thomas paid the twenty-five dollars to Moonbay and they finally went over to help Fiona with Van.

"It's about time." Fiona said angrily at Thomas and Moonbay.

"We're very sorry Miss Fiona." Thomas said apologetically.

"Yeah, sorry for not helping you earlier Fiona." Moonbay said

They cleaned him up and carried him to his quarters to rest off the pancakes.

**Well, what do you think so far, kind of disgusting, right? **

**Raven: Yeah, but it's great seeing Van in this condition.**

**There is more to come, better stuff.**

**DarkMetalist: Please...no more cookie tossing.**

**Please review, thanks.**


	2. Van Awakes & Thomas' Luck

**Wow, this story was more popular than I thought. This is the reason why I write stuff like this, for opinions and desires to read more.**

**Raven: (sarcastically) Like you weren't expecting it.**

**I wasn't**

**DarkMetalist: Yay! Tons of reviews makes the author happy! So I'm happy.**

**Raven: Who are you!**

**I don't own Zoids, or have rights to them.**

**Chapter 2**

**Van Awakes and Thomas' Luck**

**Van's Dream:**

There was a large land area with papaya trees growing all over the place. The sky was a perfect shade of blue without a cloud in the sky and the sun shining brightly down upon the trees. The papaya trees could be seen for miles around and they were tall and provided lots of shade underneath with their overlapping leaves. Van took a spot under the grove of trees and observed them. All of the fruits were orange and ripe. Van thought that he could just spend the rest of his life here, eating nothing but papayas in this serene setting. He had just grabbed the fruit from a tree and started to munch on it. The orange fruit was absolutely delicious and Van was savoring each sweet bite of the papaya. Not soon after, he woke up.

**Back to reality:**

Van woke up to find his pillow shoved into his mouth with drool all over it.

"_I've gotta get something to eat_." Van thought

Van realized he was in his room and tried to figure out how he got into bed again, but didn't care and headed for the cafeteria.

He walked down the hall and happened to bump into Moonbay. They talked as they passed each other.

"Hey Van, how are ya?" Moonbay said passing Van.

Van turned around to respond, "Um, good. I'm just going to the cafeteria to grab something to eat, you want anything?"

"No thanks. I don't want to eat after what happened this morning. Hey are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine, why?"

"Just checking"

"Okay..."

Van turned back around to continue on his walk.

"Thanks for making me twenty-five dollars richer!"

"You're welcome." Van responded.

He then realized what he just said, and turned around to say, "Wait a minute, what?"

Van found himself talking to air as Moonbay was nowhere to bee seen.

"Weird"

Van walked into the cafeteria to see that it had already closed. Considering that it was almost lunchtime, he thought the cooks would be busy warming up lunch and it would open soon. He decided to eat a snack and bought some chips from the vending machine. Van was about to sit down with his chips when he saw Fiona mopping the floor. He walked over to talk to Fiona.

"Hey Fiona"

"Hello Van" Fiona responded in a cheery voice even though she wasn't doing anything happy.

He noticed some orange residue left over even though most of the stuff was already cleaned up.

"Sheesh, what a mess", Van said "Who did it?"

"You did Van. After you ate your pancakes and fainted, you threw up and it almost got on me."

"Oh Fiona, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that." Van then gave a hug to Fiona, hoping she would accept his apology.

"Don't worry Van, its okay as long you didn't mean to." Fiona said as she gave a reassuring hug back.

"Hey, when you're finished, let's go out and have dinner together to make up for this." Van suggested

"Alright, when I finish this and my duties, we'll have dinner somewhere nice."

"Great, see you tonight."

Van gave Fiona another hug and left her to finish mopping.

He wandered towards the hanger wanting to go out for a quick run around the base before lunch. He noticed that Irvine's and Thomas's Zoids were gone so he assumed they had duties elsewhere. Van walked to the back of the hanger to find his Blade Liger waiting in its spot. It was very majestic, a glimmer of light which bounced off every part of the Blade Liger, from the head, blades and boosters under the hanger lights.

"_The repair crew did a nice job of cleaning up the Blade Liger after that last battle._" Van thought.

He jumped into his cockpit and got ready to leave for his afternoon run. But before he could get out of the hanger, a gruff voice came over the communications screen.

"Lieutenant Flyheight!"

Van looked down to see Colonel Herman's face on the screen and he had his usual _I'm serious_ face on.

"Yes, sir?"

"Van, don't go out too far, we might need you to fight at anytime so remain within 20 kilometers of the base. Is that understood!"

"Yes sir. No further than 20 kilometers out, got it. And don't worry; I won't be going out that far since lunch is going to be served soon."

The Colonel's face disappeared and Van finally got to go out on his afternoon run. He slowly eased out of the hanger by slowly pushing the controls forward and the Blade Liger walked out of the hanger area.

**A scene for Maelgwyn:**

Thomas had just gone out in the desert in his D-Bison to collect his thoughts about losing the bet with Moonbay.

"I can't believe I lost just because I worded my terms wrong. I just wanted to get something nice to Fiona so that she would notice me. I just wish I had some more money so I could get her that nice ring I saw at the jewelry shop the other day."

As if on cue, tons of one hundred dollar bills started to fall from the sky. Thomas felt that he was extremely lucky to have this occur. He started to collect the money that fell, but then he realized what he was doing was wrong. Thomas continued to pick up the money anyway because if he didn't take care of the money, someone else would. Then something fell on his head.

"OW!" Thomas yelled while rubbing his head. "Now I know this money belongs to someone."

He looked over to see that a briefcase had fallen on him. Thomas placed the money in the briefcase and he planned on taking the money back to the Guardian Force HQ. He took the money there and fortunately there was someone there to claim it after a couple of seconds.

An old man into his sixties with balding hair and a rather round girth claimed the money. He looked as if he was ready for a business meeting in a blue suit, red tie, and black shoes.

"Thank you young man for finding my money." said the old man

"Yeah you're welcome; I'm just doing my job." Thomas responded sadly

After quickly counting his money to confirm that it was all there, the man handed Thomas a bundle of ten one hundred dollar bills.

"Thank you sir, but I couldn't accept this money."

"Nonsense, I should give you something for doing the right thing and returning it to the authorities instead of taking it. Besides, this is only pocket change compared to what I have."

"Oh, well thank you sir."

The man was about to leave when Thomas yelled after him.

"Excuse me!"

"Yes?"

"How did you lose the money? When I found it, it was falling out of the sky."

"Well my boy let me explain. I was on my way to a very important meeting in New Helic City when the Pteres' cargo hold door flew open. The briefcase holding the money was supposedly secure, but it fell out. If those things occurred, I suppose it was and old Pteres which flew during the war and was damaged. It happened to land in your vicinity and all I could do from the air was watch it. Luckily you were there to pick up the money, instead of a bandit, and returned it here."

"I understand now." Thomas said

With a nod the man left to attend his meeting.

Thomas immediately asked a nearby officer who the man was.

"Are you serious sir? That man is the key developer of military grade Zoids."

"Oh" was all Thomas had to say.

Thomas left HQ and went into town to buy Fiona a ring.

**DarkMetalist: Yay! Thomas got his money.**

**Raven: Lucky idiot.**

**DarkMetalist: Don't say things like that.**

**Raven: You can't tell me what to do!**

**Something _will_ happen in the next chapter that will relate to the title; other than the constant mentioning of papayas.**

**Please, review, thanks **


	3. Lunch

**I don't write authors notes for no reason. Double negative, bad.**

**Raven: Yes, your grammar is atrocious. **

**DarkMetalist: For once, I agree with you.**

**Hey, I thought you were the nice one.**

**DarkMetalist: Well you thought wrong, mwahaha!**

**Raven: I'm starting to like this guy.**

**I don't own Zoids. **

**Multiple scenes, try to keep up.**

**Chapter 3**

**Lunch**

Thomas goes into town to look for the perfect piece of jewelry for Fiona. He left his D-Bison just outside the border of the town and walked. He came up to a small, two story store with the name bearing "Jewels and Gems"

"_Well, here I am again_." Thomas thought as he looked through the storefront window "_This time I can actually buy something._"

Thomas let his thoughts wander as he walked in. The store was mostly in low light, and it was cool. The overall atmosphere was comfortable. There was classical music playing lightly around the store and the only light came from the display cases. Paintings were hung and each depicted beautiful scenery from all parts of Zi, from the coastline to fields of flowers. He looked around and noticed the display cases all around the walls. The layout was broken in three places, separating each section from the others. Watches lined the left, items with pins to the right, and in front of the far back wall was the section on rings. Thomas approached the rings section and looked at the different designs.

"Is there anything I can help you with sir?" asked a gentleman from behind the counter.

"I'm looking for something that will let someone know that I love them" replied Thomas

"Ah, is she a girlfriend, wife, or someone you admire from a distance?"

"Uh, she is someone I admire from a distance."

"So, she's a girl who already has someone after her and they are obviously closer to her than you are."

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Sir, we are a jewelry store, we get things like this every now and then. So have you made a decision?"

Thomas took one more glance over the rings. "Yes, that one" He pointed to a silver ring in the corner. It had the design of a small humming bird and a piece of emerald in place for its eye.

"A very good choice sir, it is one of our most popular rings. It's fortunate that you got here early; this is our last piece for this month. Each shipment comes around once a month and it's only the fifth day."

The owner took out the ring from the display case and took it into the back to find a box for it. He re-emerged with a purple box with the name of the store written in fancy cursive gold writing.

"That will be one thousand dollars, sir."

"A thousand dollars! I could buy two rings for that price."

"Sir, please remember that this is a popular selling ring and the hummingbird design is hand sculpted into the silver, it is very exquisite."

"No one is on the waiting list?" Thomas asked

"Apparently not. Most people come in and look for this ring, but end up finding something better for a lower price."

"Well, I guess there are better rings here and I don't have a lot of money..."

Thomas remembered about the thousand dollars that he had received from the old man and slapped his head for forgetting something like that. He gave the money to the gentleman and Thomas got his ring. He checked the box to make sure the ring was there and left the store.

"See you another time!" the gentleman said as the door closed behind Thomas.

**In the desert:**

Van was far enough from the base to have some quiet and he got some thinking time about this morning.

"_Man, I can't believe I threw up after eating those pancakes, I could usually get through a stack that big and be fine afterwards._" Then his thoughts shifted to Fiona. "_Oh Fiona, it was nice of her to care about me enough to clean up after me. Wait a minute, Fiona, cleaning up a mess I made. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!_" At each "Stupid!" Van would mentally hit himself. "_I really should get something for her with that dinner I promised._" Next came a thought so brilliant, Van surprised himself. "_Salt, Fiona can't get enough of the stuff._"

Van went into town, went to the "Spice Shack" to pick up a fifty kilogram sack of salt. It only cost him fifty dollars because salt was an abundant seasoning.

"What in the world are you going to do with all that salt?" the shopkeeper asked "You wouldn't happen to be a cook, would you?"

"Nope, not a cook." replied Van "Just a gift for someone special."

"Who'd want that much of the stuff anyways?"

"Someone special who appreciates it."

Van loaded the sack into the back seat and he started to return to the base. He got halfway to the base when his watch went off.

"It's noon, lunchtime. I've got to pick up the pace or else there won't be anything left to eat by the time I get there."

**At the base:**

Thomas and Van had just gotten back from their gift buying adventures and headed for the cafeteria.

"Hey Thomas, what did you do this morning?"

"Oh, I went on my usual patrol of the area and a little something extra. What about you?"

"I went out to think for a while and did something else too."

They entered the cafeteria area only to find it full and the two had to stand up while everyone else sat.

"Man, you'd think there would be less people here since most don't have the time to come here and eat." said Van "Wouldn't you think so?"

"My theory is either the vending machines are broken or they prefer the cafeteria slop." replied Thomas

Unfortunately Thomas said that just a little bit too loudly and got angry stares from the cooks. Thomas just stood tensed on the wall while Van slowly moved away from him. Just as Van had finished moving there was a wave of food being thrown at Thomas from the cooks. Van couldn't help, but laugh his head off as Thomas shook off the food and there were some mashed potatoes still in his hair.

"I've got to go clean up."

Thomas hit Van in the arm on his way out for not helping him out of the mess.

"Hey! It's not like there was anything I could do to help you, you set yourself up for that one."

**Later that day the control tower:**

"What is our status O'Connell?"

"Everything is status quo, no problems so far Colonel Herman. No strange anomalies or events."

The control tower was relatively empty that afternoon since most of the other officers had gone to lunch.

"I can't blame those guys." said the Colonel "It's been quiet these days. Whenever there is no action there is no need for the entire team to be here. Hey O'Connell"

"Yes sir?"

"What do you say we go to lunch ourselves? We can just grab a quick lunch and eat it up here; it shouldn't take more than a minute."

**Some time later:**

Colonel Herman and Captain O'Connell returned to the tower with their cafeteria "slop", there was a blinking light from the base answering machine. Colonel Herman pushed "Play".

**_beep _**Message 1: "Rob, this is the president. Did you change your underwear? It's been weeks since..."

The message was cut off when Colonel Herman pushed "Delete". Captain O'Connell stifled a laugh while Colonel Herman had a deep red blush.

"You didn't hear that." ordered Colonel Herman

"Yes sir." Captain O'Connell responded, then laughed

**_beep_** Message 2: "Red River Base, we need assistance. We're under attack from a..._static._"

"We better send out a Pteres to do a recon and decide what to do from here." suggested Captain O'Connell.

**Minutes later:**

"Sir, I think you are going to want to see this." reported the Pteres pilot.

On the main viewer came a live feed from the Pteres. It showed the town under attack covered in a mass of gooey orange slime. The people were alive, but stuck in the slime. Suddenly, the camera started to fall exceedingly quickly toward the ground. The picture went out with static.

"Pilot, are you alright?" Colonel Herman asked over the radio.

All he got in response was nothing other than more static.

"We better put the base on alert." suggested Captain O'Connell.

The alarms blared all over the base and all soldiers were told to report to their stations and prepare for an imminent attack.

"All Guardian Force operatives report to the briefing room immediately." came from the loudspeakers.

**The briefing room: **

"We are currently in danger from an unknown hostile." started Colonel Herman "It has already attacked a town a few kilometers from base and is most likely moving this way."

"Do we have any clue as to what exactly is coming our way?" Thomas asked.

"Currently we have no more information as to what is coming." responded Colonel Herman "All we have is this earlier recording of the first attack."

Colonel Herman turned around to activate the view screen behind him. The earlier footage came on with the town.

"So that's all? Just a town covered in slime?" Thomas asked "It could have come from anything; a chemical plant in the area or maybe a..."

"..flying papaya!" exclaimed a soldier reporting back from the control tower.

"A flying papaya!" shouted Thomas in disbelief.

"Yes sir. Colonel Herman, we have just received this video clip from the Pteres."

The soldier put the disk in the monitor as the images played across the screen. The camera was on its side and sinking into the orange slime. Before the camera sunk completely in, a giant flying papaya came into view. That shocked everyone and made Van drool where he was standing. To everyone's disbelief, there was a _flying papaya_. It had gotten larger from the last time Van saw it, since he was the only one to see it back in the fog at Mt. Iselina.

"That could be a problem." stated Thomas.

**There, something relating to the title.**

**DarkMetalist: That was weird. **

**Raven: What? The story or the author?**

**DarkMetalist: I didn't know papayas could fly. I thought the title was figurative.**

**Well I said there would be flying papayas in this chapter.**

**DarkMetalist: Right, I forgot, sorry.**

**Raven: What happened to you hating the author and being allies with me?**

**DarkMetalist: Really? I don't remember that either.**

**What do you do when a flying fruit attacks? Find out in the next chapter.**

**Review and thanks. **


	4. The Attack

**Disclaimer: Same as the usual. But just in case, I don't own Zoids.**

**Be warned: More abrupt scene changes and nonsense ahead.**

**Raven: You're serious now?**

**And when haven't I been?**

**Raven: Just about every time you've said something.**

**DarkMetalist: Raven, let's have a talk. **

**This might lead to trouble. **

**Chapter 4**

**The Attack**

"_This is a problem_." said Irvine in a rather sarcastic tone of voice. "Couldn't have seen that coming."

"Irvine, if you're here then you must be a member of the Guardian Force." Fiona stated matter-of-factly.

"Look! I'm not part of the Guardian Force alright!"

"Yeah, sure, say whatever you want." Van said picking his ear

"Can we continue with this briefing now?" asked Colonel Herman

"Yeah" Irvine replied

"Thank you. Now, because we are dealing with a new type of enemy, I'm open to any suggestions on how to approach the situation."

"What is there to not know about the enemy? IT'S A DESTRUCTIVE FLYING FRUIT! If it hasn't been provoked to attack and it attacks us first, we need to retaliate." _suggested_ Moonbay.

"I'm with her. If there is no chance of any peaceful contact with this papaya, we blow it out of the sky." Irvine agreed with a big grin on his face about the "blasting out of the sky" part.

"Agreed. We shall take the approach and strike tactic. I'll send out the soldiers since the Guardian Force does not need to deal with such a petty task. Dismissed" said Colonel Herman.

**Time passes:**

"All pilots report to the hanger for briefing!" came on the loudspeakers.

"Hey, what do you think this is all about?" a shadowed soldier asked another while running towards the hanger.

"I don't know, they'll tell us at the hanger, you should know that, it's procedure and was announced, don't you remember?"

"Of course I remembered, I just thought I could find out earlier. I am eager for a fight."

"Yeah, I can't wait to go out either. Hey, what's with the silver briefcase?"

"Just a pack of food in case I get hungry at the briefing."

"But did you have to carry it in a suspicious briefcase?"

"Yes, it makes me look cool."

The pilot gave a weird look at the other before running ahead. Little did the soldier know that the shadowed soldier was an operative for the flying papaya. Actually, the shadowed soldier was a regular guy, but had inhaled the scent of the papaya and now he was under the control of the flying papaya.

**The hangar:**

"Is everyone present?" the leading officer asked while he looked around the room. He noticed all of the chairs were filled except for those reserved for Guardian Force operatives.

"Okay, I am sure the missing operatives know what's going on, so I'm going to start this briefing. We have received word on a..._flying_ papaya on an attack run on the base."

The mention of a flying papaya approaching the base roused some murmuring in the crowd.

"I am aware that this sounds crazy, but you'll believe me when you see this."

The officer turned around and activated a view screen with the same footage everyone at the briefing room saw.

"Now you know what we are dealing with, supposedly. Now Colonel Herman wants an all out attack on the papaya, is that understood? Good. Let's mobilize the Zoids."

"A moment if you please sir?" asked the soldier with the essence of papaya within him.

"Yes Miller, what is it?"

Without saying another word, the pilot opened the briefcase and the room filled with orange smoke.

"Miller! cough what is this stuff? cough cough" the officer asked. He took in a breath through his nose and noticed the orange smoke had the smell of papayas. He inhaled the sweet smell and fell because the smoke was sleeping gas. Miller also fell with the rest of the pilots. The papaya scent within him dissipated leaving little trace of it ever being there.

**Several minutes later: **

"Where are the Zoids? Why haven't they launched their attack yet?" Colonel Herman asked.

"Sir we might have a slight problem in the hanger." came Van's voice over the radio.

"Well, what is it?"

"It appears that everyone is asleep, apparently from sniff sniff papaya scented sleeping gas."

"I suppose we will just have to commence the attack with you Lieutenant Flyheight."

"Understood" Van responded. He ran over to the Blade Liger and jumped in.

"I'm coming with you Van!" Irvine shouted from behind "I want to blow up this flying papaya." Another smirk spreading on his face "I'll never get tired of thinking about that."

"Me too. I'm not going to let all the glory go to you Flyheight." said Thomas.

The three pilots exited the hanger and were running through the desert. They were a little apprehensive to what they would expect. The papaya came into view a few moments later. The three stopped at a safe distance and thought about a strategy.

"So, do we go with a planned assault or a fire at will attack?" Thomas asked.

"I'd like to go with the fire at will attack, those are my favorite." stated Irvine.

"We need to go with a planned assault because that would guarantee us success against this enemy." said Van.

"Right" Irvine and Thomas agreed.

"We'll go with the delta formation, minus the shields; I don't think we will need those. It's a fruit, what's the worse that could happen?"

"Whenever someone says _'what's the worse that could happen'_, the worse usually does happen." said Thomas

"Like what!" Van asked

"We'll find out when it happens." stated Thomas

The D-Bison, Lightning Saix, and Blade Liger ran to their positions around the papaya and began firing. There was a barrage of bullets heading for the papaya when the unexpected happened.

"What happened to our ammo?" Thomas asked "It just disappeared inside the papaya."

"Thomas" Van started "It's a fruit. It's soft and squishy and it must have absorbed our attacks."

"Then why didn't the great almighty Van Flyheight notice this earlier?" Thomas inquired, anxious for what response Van had to give.

"Uh...would you believe I had a brain fart?"

"Yeah it's understandable. I get those around Fiona when I get ready to tell her that I OOPS!" Thomas stopped himself before giving out any more information.

"WHAT DO YOU TELL FIONA!"

"That's not important, right now we need to retreat to think about another strategy. I think you two should retreat to a safe distance while I fire my Mega-lo-Max at the papaya, blasting it to smithereens."

"Aww, I wanted to do that." pouted Irvine

Thomas got into position while he charged and targeted his guns. Before he could fire, the flying papaya shot green papayas into the barrels of the guns and clogged them.

"Oh no! BEAK power down the guns." wee woo "Unable to comply! BEAK eject!"

Thomas ejected out of the D-Bison as well as the BEAK control stick, and the D-Bison's guns blew, effectively tearing the body of the Zoid to shreds. Miraculously the Zoid Core and memory banks remained intact.

"Thomas!" shouted Irvine "Alright you flying fruit, prepare for my attack!"

Irvine started to run towards the flying papaya with the intent of taking a bite out of it with the Zoid. Upon the approach of the Lightning Saix, the flying papaya secreted juice in a 100 meter radius around it. Because the Lightning Saix was approaching at a fast speed, it slipped on the juices at the jump and skidded to a nearby mountain wall.

"Ugh! A command system freeze. Van you're the only guy left to combat the papaya, make it count."

Van was thinking about a strategy since the others didn't work.

"Well a direct attack with the cannons won't work since they will just be absorbed. A speed attack won't work either since I'll slip on the juices. Hmmm...I've got it!"

Van ran back a considerable distance to prepare his plan. The Blade Liger deployed the blades and got ready for a run. It ran towards the papaya until it reached the juices, then the Blade Liger jumped. Van activated the boosters to add distance to the jump. The blades came into contact with the papaya and it was cut in half. The papaya halves fell to the ground and the seeds fell out also.

"Well then, the threat has been eliminated. A cleanup crew will take care of this tomorrow." Van stated.

Van rounded up Thomas and Irvine then returned to base.

"Aren't you worried about the papaya regenerating?" Thomas asked.

"If it could regenerate, it would have already, and it's been a good three hours with no activity." Van responded.

"Still..."Thomas said and let his mind wander again.

**BEAK – I forgot the acronym**

**Raven: You forget just as well as DarkMetalist does.**

**What happened to that talk with DarkMetalist?**

**Raven: Strangely enough, I don't remember that talk.**

**Where is DarkMetalist anyway?**

**DarkMetalist: walks in Hey guys!**

**Where have you been?**

**DarkMetalist: Somewhere**

**Raven: Do you smell papaya?**

**Review, thanks**


	5. Return

**Raven: Are you thinking what I'm thinking?**

**That DarkMetalist is a papaya?**

**Raven: No. More like you need to have the characters do something out of the ordinary.**

**DarlMetalist: I agree, and about that papaya comment, I just came back from a shower.**

**Raven: You needed it.**

**DarkMetalist: I know, that's why I took one.**

**Raven: This kid just has to ruin everything I say.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Zoids. Am I finished yet?**

**Alert: Characters might not behave like themselves.**

**Chapter 5**

**Return**

"Oh. YOU WHAT! How can you do that? Alright then, we'll reschedule for tomorrow, as long as I don't have to repay for the reservation. Okay, thanks, bye." Van hung up the phone.

"Van?" Fiona asked "What is it? Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, but I took care of it. The waiter at the restaurant gave away our reservation to another couple since we missed ours."

"It's okay Van. You did say we could go tomorrow, right?" He nodded "Then we'll go tomorrow, it's no big deal. It wasn't your fault we didn't make it to the restaurant on time; it was the papaya's fault."

Van chuckles, "Yeah, the papaya."

He took Fiona to her quarters and after saying goodbye, Van walked away with a kiss.

"_That papaya ruined everything with Fiona. It would have been a wonderful night if it hadn't interfered. She looked so beautiful in that sparkling pink dress_." sigh

Van continued to walk down the dim, narrow hallway when he ran into Thomas. Thomas was carrying the purple box he got from the jewelry store.

"Hey, Thomas, what's with the box? You hoping to get someone's affection?"

"As a matter of fact I am trying to get someone's affection, but what's in the box is none of your business."

"Oh come on Thomas." Van worked his way around him "You can tell me, or just show me."

"No Van"

Van got his hands behind Thomas and started tickling him. While Thomas was laughing, he dropped the box and Van picked it up. Van looked inside to see the hummingbird ring.

"Wow Thomas, this is some gift. Tell me how it goes, alright?" Van tosses the box back to Thomas.

"Yeah, sure"

Thomas proceeded to Fiona's room while Van continued on his way. He gave two light knocks on her door.

"Yes?" asked Fiona from behind the door. "Who is it?"

"It's Thomas. May I come in Miss Fiona?"

Fiona opened the door to let Thomas in. She was in her night gown and was getting ready to go to bed. She was somewhat annoyed with Thomas visiting this late, but she couldn't let her image of a sweet girl change.

"Is there something I can do for you Thomas?" she asked as nicely as possible.

"Well, Fiona, um I came here to uh give something to you. It's right here in my pocket."

He reached into his pocket to get the box, but it wasn't there. Thomas frantically searched all of the pockets to find the box.

"Uh, Thomas, what's that in your hand?"

"Well it's your gift, but what I'm looking for is...your...gift...sorry, heh heh, here you go."

Fiona took the box and opened it to find the hummingbird ring with the emerald green eye.

"OH THOMAS, IT'S BEAUTIFUL!"

Fiona tried it on, then gave Thomas a heart felt hug.

"This is the best gift ever, thank you!"

"_I've finally done it._" thought Thomas

**The next morning:**

Everyone is enjoying another breakfast and this time Van decided to go with some bacon and eggs instead of papaya pancakes. The group decided to sit with each other since the cafeteria was mostly empty. The soldiers were still _conveniently _out cold.

"That must have been some really strong sleeping gas to have the soldiers out this long." Fiona stated

"Not to worry, even if the sleeping gas was strong, it wouldn't last more than twenty-four hours. I would expect them to be up by this afternoon."

"Oh Thomas, you are so smart!" Fiona said and hugged Thomas

Van, Moonbay, and Irvine were watching and almost choked on their food.

"What? Haven't you seen two people in love before?" Thomas asked

"Love! We never would have expected Fiona to fall in love with you Thomas." The others said in unison.

"I would have expected Fiona to be with Van not you." said Moonbay.

"I agree with her, you should have never gotten Fiona." said Irvine, always taking Moonbay's side.

"And why is that!" yelled Thomas.

"Because" started Moonbay "She didn't like you up until today, so something must have happened last night."

Something clicked in Van's mind "_the ring_". He tried not to show that he knew. Van glanced over to Fiona's ring finger to confirm his suspicions.

"If you guys will excuse me, I'll be in the hanger."

Van just got up and left, leaving half of his breakfast behind.

"Wait Van!" shouted Irvine "What do you think about Thomas and Fiona together!"

"I think its fine."

"One other thing"

"Yeah?"

"Can I have your breakfast?"

Van said "Yeah" and continued to walk out of the cafeteria.

Moonbay slapped Irvine up side the head. "You insensitive jerk! Couldn't you see Van was troubled? Come on, I have got to teach you some common sense."

She dragged Irvine out and left Thomas and Fiona alone.

**Van's mind:**

_How could Fiona be swayed by a simple gift? How could she forget all of the years we have spent together that easily? It's just not possible. After all we have been through, all forgotten in a night._

_I shouldn't worry about it. It was just a novelty item. All girls get excited over a gift. She was probably being nice so that Thomas wouldn't feel bad for spending all that money on her. She never said she loved him out loud so that's a sign. I also have a gift up my sleeve._

**Moonbay and Irvine:**

"Irvine, couldn't you have helped a little instead of making it worse by asking for Van's food?"

"Well, I was already helped by asking what he thought about it. But what else could I have done to help Van?"

"Asking Van about it didn't help, especially if his response was fine. There is usually more to the story when you get '_fine_' for a response."

"And you would think he would just tell me what's up right there in front of the others?"

"Why didn't you try to find out some other way? You could have followed him you know."

"Yeah, but it wasn't my problem."

"MY GOD IRVINE! Is all you think about yourself! Why would you put yourself in front of your friends! What would happen if...I broke up with someone? Would you comfort me or say it didn't involve you and walk away?"

"I would comfort you and that would be different."

"How would it be different Irvine?"

"It would be different because...well, um...give me a sec."

"I'll tell you what's NOT different. In the hypothetical situation, I lost someone I loved, and so did Van."

"Oh, crud. I see what you mean."

Irvine ran off to find Van and offer some sympathy for what happened in the cafeteria. Moonbay walked off, satisfied with herself.

**Seconds later:**

"VAN! VAN! Wait up!"

"What is it Irvine?" Van still sounding pissed from the "incident".

"I want to say I'm sorry. I was a jerk and should have helped you out. I shouldn't have thought about myself. I was your friend and didn't help you."

"You _are _and still will be my friend Irvine, no matter what."

"Thanks for understanding. What do you really think about Thomas and Fiona together?"

"It was mostly upsetting. I mean it had been years since we were together, a lot longer than before we met any of you. After all the time we spent together I thought she would have some feelings for me."

"Whoa, that's deep. You shouldn't worry about it though. Fiona might be acting nice to please Thomas so he wouldn't feel like he wasted his money on a gift."

"That's exactly what I thought. But if she could put on an act that good, how will I know if she really likes me?"

"Did she do something that she hasn't done to Thomas yet?"

"I haven't seen her kiss Thomas or tell him she loves him yet."

"There's your answer. If she was truly in love with him, she would have done those things."

"But what if she did it when I wasn't there?"

"If Fiona seriously was in love with Thomas, she would do it in the open, not in secrecy."

"You're right Irvine, I've got nothing to worry about. Thanks for your help."

"Hey, it's no problem. Is there anything else I could help you with?"

"You can come with me to the Blade Liger and help unload a gift."

"What kind of gift?"

"You'll have to come, if you want to find out."

**Moments later:**

"Uh, Van, are you sure Fiona's going to like this?" Irvine asked while holding the sack of salt.

"Are you kidding me? If you watch Fiona everyday, you'll notice she eats a lot of this stuff. The best thing I can do is give her more."

Shaking his head in disbelief for this type of gift, Irvine did as he was told and helped carry the sack.

"So, is that flying papaya really gone now?" Irvine asked.

"I'm confident it is. Sliced it in two and it fell to the ground." Van responded

"Did you remember to burn the seeds?"

"No, why would I do that? Besides, the cleanup crew will take care of it."

"Well it doesn't matter, as long as there isn't any liquid around the seeds."

"Um, actually...there was the juice from the papaya. It kind of leaked out as we left and I thought it was a part of the decomposition process."

"Van you have got to get out there and destroy those seeds!"

"Or what, they'll sprout into a bunch of baby papayas and start attacking the base?"

_**alarms blare, base shakes, and stuff starts falling from the ceiling**_

"Or what huh?"

Van laughs nervously and scratches the back of his head.

"All conscience people, report to the conference room. We are under attack from more flying papayas!" over the PA system.

Van and Irvine drop the sack of salt and run to the conference room.

**I have a great idea that will make the story last longer.**

**Raven: Does it involve us?**

**I'm already using you, so you're already involved.**

**DarkMetalist: Does it involve ridiculously long series of events?**

**Yes.**

**DarkMetalist: Oh yeah, go me. dances**

**Raven: Lucky guess.**

**Please review, thanks.**


	6. Anti Papaya Weapon

**Don't own Zoids. This chapter is _way_ crazier than the others. **

**DarkMetalist: What makes this chapter craziest?**

**Raven: You don't have a sense of comparison do you?**

**This chapter is craziest because the things happen here that don't happen in Zoids; and no I don't.**

**DarkMetalist: Isn't that what fanfiction is for? **

**Raven: No, duh genius.**

**Chapter 6**

**Anti-Papaya Weapon **

**Conference room:**

"Is everyone who is conscience here?" Colonel Herman asked.

"Roll call!" shouted everyone.

"Van! Fiona! Irvine! Moonbay! Thomas! Colonel Herman! Captain O'Connell! Dr. D!"

"Dr. D! When did you get here?" Moonbay inquired.

"I parachuted from one of my frog blimps about 10 minutes ago." Dr. D replied and gave one of his crazy laughs.

"Right. Let's start this briefing shall we?" started Colonel Herman "As you all know, the flying papaya was destroyed by Van."

"Whoo Van, you're our hero!" shouted some fan girls.

Everyone else turned around to see the girls. Van gave a big smile and waved.

"_Those girls. They're trying to take my Van!_" Fiona thought.

"Hey! This is a private meeting for Zoids characters only." O'Connell stated.

"Conscience ones." Irvine added.

"Correct, so even though you girls are conscience, you are not Zoids characters. Now I suggest you leave."

"Awww" they left in single file, into a television set to the other side of reality.

"Back to the task at hand." started a very irritated Colonel Herman "From our external cameras we can see that there are several small papayas attacking the base."

Everyone stared at the view screen to see the baby flying papayas hovering in the air; throwing themselves at the base as a form of attack.

"They are so cute!" said Fiona.

"Fiona, they are trying to attack the base. I don't think cute is the best word to use." said Van.

Then, the pictures snowed out.

"I think we need better surveillance cameras." stated Thomas.

"We'll get those, after we figure out how to get rid of all the papayas." said O'Connell.

"I have an idea! How about we just have Van go out there and start slicing the papayas up into bits and pieces with his knife." said Moonbay.

"No way! I'm not going out there, there are way too many for me to take out on my own. Remember what happened the last time I sliced the papayas?"

"Uh Van, technically this applies now." Thomas said.

"It doesn't matter! The result was the same; the papaya's seeds will just grow into more!"

"Then we will follow you with flame throwers and burn the little suckers down!" Irvine suggested getting an evil glint in his eye.

"Oww, stupid evil glint!"

"No, there is a problem with that. There are just too many papayas to hunt and burn." stated Thomas.

Dr. D finally got a word into the discussion. "I have an idea!"

"Dr. D, what do you suggest we do?" Colonel Herman asked.

"I have been developing this new weapon. It uses microwaves as ammunition. What a microwave does is it sends out well, electromagnetic waves at high frequencies, which cause the water particles in anything to start vibrating violently. The friction from this violent vibrating produces heat. And the heat cooks the food, or in this case, blows up the papayas with steam from the heated water."

After this "simplified" scientific explanation, there was a stare of confusion from everyone (except Thomas) in the conference room.

"I followed everything you said, but I only understood the part about blowing up the papayas." said Irvine.

"If you had only studied technology, you would understand." said Thomas.

"But I didn't understand much either Thomas; what does that make me?" Fiona asked.

"You are an ancient Zoidian Fiona, that makes you exempt from this discussion."

"Oh, whatever you say Thomas."

Dr. D walked over to a panel and pushed a button. The entire wall fell revealing a secret storage space.

"Here are the weapons." Dr. D started to hand out the microwave weapons. "Oh wait Van, since you are supposed to be the hero, you get this BIG gun."

Van took the gun and examined it.

"Now to fire this weapon, just point it at the target and hold down the trigger for a couple of seconds. This collects the microwaves into a sphere that could be fired. And if you happen to point it at the incorrect target..." Dr. D looks at Irvine aiming the gun backwards into the air and the correct end at Thomas' head "the delay gives you chance to..DUCK THOMAS!"

Thomas ducks and the microwave ball just barely misses his head.

"Whew, anyway you have a chance to point it somewhere else." finished Dr. D.

"Hey, watch where you are pointing that thing!" exclaimed Thomas.

"Uh, sorry Thomas, I wasn't aiming for you." Irvine said.

"Dr. D. Is there any way to bypass the charging sequence and just shoot the microwaves without having it form into a sphere?" Van inquired.

"Of course Van, but you have to know what you are doing, or else you could blow someone's head off." Dr. D gave a stare at Irvine.

"I SAID I WAS SORRY, WHAT ELSE YOU WANT!"

"Anyway I normally wouldn't allow this, but since this is an emergency crisis situation, I could turn the sphere into a beam. In fact I might as well do it for everyone."

Dr. D walked over to everyone and went to the keypads located on the sides. He entered his access code to allow the weapon to bypass the charging sequence and shoot the beam instead of the sphere.

"Alright everyone, let's go out and hunt some papayas!" Colonel Herman said

"YEAH!" came a shout of approval from everyone.

Everyone conscience dispersed into pairs. They had their sectors to take care of and went along their way.

**Okay, it's starting to sound not original, but I'm running high and dry on ideas.**

**DarkMetalist: High and dry on ideas? I wouldn't have thought of half the stuff you think of.**

**Raven: That's because you are part of _his_ imagination, so you don't get to think. **

**DarkMetalist: I guess you're right.**

**Raven: Yeah! Score one for me! dances **

**Please review, at least one person, please.**


	7. The Hunt

**I don't own Zoids.**

**Raven: What else is new?**

**DarkMetalist: I found a nickel.**

**Raven: What's so new about that?**

**DarkMetalist: It's shiny. **

**Pairs and locations: **

**Van and Irvine - outside**

**Thomas and Fiona - inside **

**Moonbay and Dr. D - inside **

**Col. Herman and Capt. O'Connell - inside.**

**Chapter 7**

**The Hunt**

"Dr. D, are you sure these 'ray' guns will work?" O'Connell asked over the radio.

"They're not ray guns.." Dr. D started.

"Alright, microwave weapon things." O'Connell corrected.

"They will work, or else I wouldn't have developed them."

"Like Van's new booster engines?"

"That was an accident!" Dr. D responded. "Now maintain radio silence until there is an emergency."

"So then Col. Herman, do you believe these weapons will work?" O'Connell asked his superior.

"I've worked with Dr. D before, and he has yet to disappoint, though those booster engines did malfunction according to the reports."

The pair of officers continued to walk down a hallway when they hear a sound in the storage room in front of them.

_thump_

"What was that?" asked O'Connell

Col. Herman quietly responded "It came from the storage room, c'mon, let's investigate."

They advance upon the room and open the door to find out what's going on. Col.Herman finds the switch for the lights and they scan the room full of boxes. Slowly, they enter the room and clear the door.

_whoosh...click_

"What the..." began Col. Herman

He turns around and tries to unlock the door with no success.

"Damn, those papayas locked us in." he finished

A papaya zooms past behind them , and O'Connell turns around and blasts it with the gun.

"Well, this might not be a bad thing." Col. Herman stated "Sure, we have a limited amount of sight with all the boxes, but we could still shoot these things easy."

O'Connell tries his radio.

"Something wrong?" the Colonel asked

"I can't use my radio, the room must be shielded or something. I can't call for help or reinforcements."

"We wouldn't need reinforcements," Col Herman affirmed. "We're military men remember? In the event that we have lost contact for and extended period of time, they'll start looking for us. You shouldn't worry."

Capt. O'Connell and Col. Herman walked through the storage room to find any more papayas that might be there. Two wiz by, but they are easily taken out. Moments later the main lights flicker out.

_slap_

"Uh, Colonel, I'm sure that's not your tongue on my arm would it?"

"No...Why would I do something like that?"

Col. Herman pulls out a flashlight and points it at O'Connell to find out what he could possibly be talking about. What he sees behind O'Connell is an oversized papaya with some sort of appendage coming from the inside of the fruit attaching itself to O'Connell's arm.

"Umm O'Connell, turn around slowly."

O'Connell turns around with an "oh no" look and he nearly passes out. But before he even could, the papaya rolled in its long slippery arm and pulls O'Connell inside.

Capt. O'Connell's "HELP!" was muffled by the papaya.

Col. Herman grabbed O'Connell's leg before it disappeared into the papaya, and he tried to pull him out. However, the fruit let out another appendage/arm and pulled Col. Herman in by the leg. The papaya then floated to its destination, crashing through the door and reemerging with a bruise on its front side. Meanwhile on the other side of the base, Moonbay and Dr. D were on the run from a mass of flying papayas that were attacking them.

"Where are we going Dr. D?" Moonbay asked. "The papayas are in the other direction and I want a chance to get 'em."

"What are you stupid?" Dr. D retorted "Sure we have these fancy microwave guns, but even these are no match to take out that many papayas."

"THEN WHY DID YOU GIVE EVERYONE THESE GUNS IF YOU KNEW THEY WOULDN'T HELP MUCH?" Moonbay furiously said.

"NOW SEE HERE, THESE GUNS WERE DESIGNED TO BLOW UP AN OBJECT IN THE LINE OF SIGHT!" he responded. "With that many other papayas behind the others, it would be futile to use these guns. After we finish off the first lines, there would be more and more lines right behind it. That's why we're heading back to my lab to grab some enhancers to intensify the beam."

"And you didn't think the others might need this?"

"Well, the enhancers are really dangerous. A regular microwave stops short of walls, but the enhancers let the beam go through walls." Dr. D began. "If the gun was aimed at a single papaya on the wall..."

"It would blow up anyone else on the other side and then some." Moonbay finished.

"The enhancers would not be used unless there was a thick wave of papayas, something I would not have expected to happen in any part of the building. And that's why I didn't give any enhancers to anyone else; I thought there would be no need for them."

"Well then, I guess it's off to the lab." Moonbay stated. "You think we should radio this information to the others?"

"We could do that in the lab, right now there is no time to run, carry an oversized weapon, and push a button to talk on the radio."

"Of course."

They reach the lab and once through, they lock the steel door behind them just in time for the papayas to crash into the door. There is a constant pounding afterwards as papayas after another continue to throw themselves at the door.

"You hold up the door and radio the others." Dr. D ordered Moonbay. "I'll get the devices from the safe."

Moonbay broadcasts her message over the radio.

"This is Moonbay calling for everyone else to just listen. We have a situation on the north side of the base, there is a large swarm of flying papayas here and they seemed pretty mad. I think we stumbled onto their hive of some sort."

"Where are you now?" Thomas asked.

"We're in Dr. D's lab getting some enhancers for our weapons."

"Why didn't we get enhancers?" Irvine inquired.

Dr. D, while entering the combination to the safe, responds: "It's a long story, but to put it simply, it was too dangerous for you to have them."

"It was too dangerous for me?" Van asked.

"No Van." Dr. D stated "Since you have a different model than the others, to activate the built-in enhanced microwave function, just flip the switch on the side of the trigger. Just be careful with it, don't aim it at other people's head..."

"I SAID I WAS SORRY, WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT?" Irvine shouted.

"...or aim it in their general direction because the microwaves will go through walls, effectively killing them also." finished Dr. D.

"Wow, I guess I shouldn't turn it on if it's that dangerous and there is no immediate use for it."

"That's right, and that's why I trust you with the more advanced weapon, you are very responsible."

"Uh, Dr. D?" Moonabay interrupted "I'd hate to ruin this moment of a father-son-ish talk of responsibility, but...WOULD YOU HURRY UP WITH THAT SAFE?"

"Sorry, sorry." Dr. D muttered.

"Now if any of you guys can come over to assist us that would be greatly appreciated." Moonbay said.

"Sure, we're on our way" the others said.

"Got it!" exclaimed Dr. D.

He takes out two enhancers and leaves the others behind, just in case the papayas might use them. Dr. D tosses one to Moonbay and she slips it on the end of the barrel, like a silencer, but it acts as an enhancer. She steps away from the door and joins Dr. D on the other side of the lab. They position the guns so that they are aimed at the door and prepare to fire as the door starts to give way. Moments later the door falls to the ground as wave upon wave of papayas flood the doorway. The guns did an effective job of blowing up the papayas for several minutes, but the guns started to run low on energy. Once the beams faded out, the doctor and Moonbay braced themselves against the papayas. They were knocked out and taken away.

Thomas and Fiona were on their way to save Moonbay and Dr. D.

"Do you think Moonbay and Dr. D are alright Thomas?" Fiona asked.

"I'm not sure Fiona they could be in trouble since they haven't radioed in yet." Thomas responded.

"So you know where we're going, right?" she asked.

"Of course I know where I'm going. What gives you the idea that we're lost?" he said

"Because the lab is the other way."

"..." was Thomas' response to that situation.

Soon, Fiona and Thomas reach what's left of Dr. D's lab.

"Oh...my...God." stated Fiona.

What they found was a large pile of orange papaya matter blocking half the doorway. They stepped over the pile and Thomas, being the gentleman that he is, carried Fiona over the pile. The lab was a disaster area. There were broken test tubes and beakers everywhere. The electronics were scattered all over the floor and the lights were dangling from their wires and flickering from above.

"There was a battle going on here that was for sure." said Thomas.

"Thomas look, their weapons."

Thomas picked one up.

"It is obvious that they were fighting for a long time, their microwave guns ran out of power." He threw the gun on the ground. "Well there's nothing we can do here, we should leave."

Once again Thomas took Fiona into his arms and took her over the mass of papaya matter. As they turned away from the doorway Fiona spotted some orange water droplets on the ground.

"Van come in." Thomas said over the radio.

"I'm here Thomas, what is it?"

"The lab is a mess, you don't want to come over here. Fiona and I are following some droplets of what might be papaya juice out of the lab now. It looks like it leads to the hive they were talking about since the droplets just lead us to a bunch of giant puddles of the juice."

"Alright stay where you are and we're coming over, over."

Thomas got the message, but he continued to follow the droplets.

"Thomas...where are you going? Van told us to stay." Fiona said

"I need to find the others Fiona, they may be in trouble and we can't afford to wait any longer than we have for Van. You stay in this closet and wait for Van, don't worry I'll be fine."

"Oh Thomas you are so brave, _hug_. Good luck."

Thomas follows the orange puddles further until he comes to an abrupt stop around the corner. Suddenly, a large plop of papaya juice appears in front of him. He looks up to see a swarm of papayas hovering overhead.

"Uh oh, uhh hi?"

The papayas came down on Thomas and they took him away also, his screams muffled by the papayas.

Van and Irvine were on their way to get inside the base from the outside. They had eradicated most of the papayas coming into the base from the air and were covered in papaya juice. Van, being very hungry since this morning, had some flying papaya once no more showed up. They were just about to reach the outer door when a bullet ricocheted off the door. Van and Irvine quickly sought shelter behind some barrels and military junk as the shots continued.

"Who do you think could be shooting us at a time like this?" Irvine asked.

"It must be a papaya. We might have missed one when we were heading for the door and it got up to the watchtower." Van speculated

"I have an idea. I'll distract the papaya by running out into the open and you take it out with your gun." Irvine said

"No way, forget it. I'm not going to let you risk your life."

"So you're going to do it?"

"NO!" said Van "We need to find an alternative way of doing this without risking our lives."

"Okay, how about I get into a barrel and start running around out there, then you can shoot. In that was neither of us is risking our lives."

"But there is still the possibility of you getting hurt, steel doesn't protect you that well from bullets."

"Van, we don't really have much time here, people's lives are in danger and the quicker we get this done, the faster we can help them."

"I have a better idea, Irvine take off your shoes."

The papaya was waiting for some movement to begin shooting again. It didn't have to wait long when two barrels started to roll on their sides from the pile towards the door. Since this papaya was somewhat smart, it thought the barrels were a distraction and aimed the gun other way, but it saw the shoes sticking out of the barrels. The papaya let loose a volley of gunfire to the barrels effectively turning them into Swiss cheese. The papaya suddenly felt warm and it exploded. Van was aiming at the tower from the corner of the main pile of barrels and junk.

"Great job Van. Can I get my shoes now?"

"Yeah, go ahead and get them."

They quickly got their shoes and headed for the door. A single heated bullet blew from the tower and it shot towards Irvine.

"Argh!" yelled Irvine.

"Irvine! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, the bullet just grazed my foot, but it still hurts."

"Can you walk?" Van asked.

"I can walk, but I don't think I can run if it becomes necessary."

"I'll take you to the infirmary and you can stay there until I come back for you."

Van and Irvine finally got inside the base and Van took Irvine to the infirmary as promised and Van left his gun.

"Wait Van, don't you need your microwave gun?"

"No, not really. I can handle myself with my knife and you need this gun more than I do if you can't escape."

Van closed the door and headed towards Dr. D's lab alone.

"Thomas! Fiona! Where are you?" Van shouted into the halls.

"I'm in here Van." came Fiona's muffled response.

"Where?"

"In the closet."

Van opened the door to see Fiona huddled inside, crying.

"Oh Van I'm so happy to see you! Thomas left to look for the others himself and he hasn't come back since. I was afraid that no one would be out there to come get me."

"Well, you can stop crying now Fiona, I'm still here. You want to come with me to find the others?"

Fiona gives a small nod.

"Alright then, let's go." said Van

Van and Fiona followed the same puddles that Thomas did, but they didn't encounter any swarms of papayas. The trail of papaya puddles lead around many other corners and through other hallways until they stopped short of some massive hangar doors. Van found a side door, which also lead into the hangar. Through that door they could get in the hangar unnoticed. Once inside, they hid behind some crates as they watched the events unfold in front of them.

**Cliffhanger, wow I'm bad.**

**Raven: No you're not, stop lying.**

**You're right, I'm too nice. I'll try to get a nice ending but don't expect too much. **

**DarkMetalist: Please review. **


	8. Master Plan

**Disclaimer: Zoids, I don't own it.**

**CAUTION: Lots of talking ahead. But you get most of the unclear ends tied up and explanations are given.**

**DarkMetalist: Really?**

**I don't know, you decide.**

**Raven: You really are lazy aren't you?**

**I just haven't written the chapter yet, they're just floating ideas right now.**

**Chapter 8**

**Master Plan **

"Squish squish, squash, squash squash, SQUISH!"

Upon the speech made by the papaya leader, the smaller soldier flying papayas floated

up and down happily as applause.

"Squish squash..."

"I can't understand a word the leader papaya is saying." Van commented. "It's like they're speaking papayanese or something."

Fiona handed Van what looked like an ear bud.

"Here" she said "Take this, I found it on the floor, stick it in your ear."

"Ew, you found something on the floor and now you want me to stick it in my ear?"

"Van, don't be such a baby. Now put it on so you can understand what they're saying."

Van reluctantly put the interpreter into his ear, and what the papayas squished was instantaneously translated into English.

"_My fellow papayas" _started the papaya leader. _"It is now our time to strike back. It has been millennia since the Zoidians have oppressed us and now it is time to rebel."_

"_Yeah!" _responded the papaya soldiers.

"_We now have control of this base and its Zoids. Those Zoidians who have been a threat to us have been taken care of however; there are still three Zoidians on the loose within this base. To fully implement our plan they must be captured and stopped before they can interfere."_

"Hey Van, what do you think their plan is?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out."

"How are you going to do that?" she asked "Go up there and ask?"

"That's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Van, are you crazy? We're wanted right now; we might be the last and best hope for Zi."

"I know, but don't worry I have a plan. You can reverse engineer these translators, right?" Van asked Fiona

"I can, but it'll take some time."

"How much time?" he asked

"Done" Fiona happily said and passed the modified translator to Van.

"How did you..." Van began then sighed "never mind."

Van spoke into the translator and asked the question.

"**_Sir, how do you intend to take over Zi?_**"

"_Why are you asking that soldier, shouldn't you have already been briefed?" _responded the giant leader papaya.

"**_I fell asleep._**"

"_Well that's just great, hours before battle and you had to fall asleep during the briefing. (sigh) Since it is going to be at least a couple of hours before the plan is executed, I might as we tell you. However you're getting the condensed version so you are going to have to figure it out as we go along for yourself! First we will take over the weapon storage/destruction facility the blue devil tried to destroy before. Then the weapons will be loaded onto the Zoids. Next we will hold both capitals of Zi hostage, colonies and smaller cities will also be watched in the event they try to unite and take out the main squads. Then, when both governments agree to surrender, we will rule the planet!"_

"**_But what if they do not decide to surrender?_**"

"_Then it is the complete annihilation of the Zoidians and we have the planet to ourselves."_

"THAT'S HORRIBLE!" shouted Fiona.

"Uh Fiona, did you just realize that you gave away our presence here?"

"Oh, oops, sorry Van."

"_Intruders, seize them!"_

"Ruun!" shouted Van

"Van?"

"Yeah Fiona?"

"I think they got us."

He looked down to see that his waist had been wrapped around with the papaya's vine-like appendage.

"Aw, man."

The two were slowly reeled up against the papayas that captured them, and they were held there until the papaya leader could come up and squish, um talk to them.

"_So, if it isn't the legendary ancient Zoidian and the infamous Van. Take the girl away to the holding chambers; while I answer any questions Mr. Flyheight may have."_

"Van, help me!"

"I will Fiona, just hang in there!"

"_Oh, I don't believe you'll be seeing your girlfriend anytime soon."_

Knowing that he wouldn't be going anywhere, he took the papaya's advice and asked questions to bide his time and to find out as much as he could.

"So" Van began. "How were you oppressed and why do you want to take over Zi?"

"_It all occurred several millennia ago..."_

"This is going to take a while." Van said, bored.

"_Hey, you want to know or not?"_

"Fine fine, I'm sorry, continue."

"_Ahem, as I began, this all occurred several millennia ago. The now ancient Zoidians were working on the genetic modification on papayas. They wanted to use us as slaves to do their dirty, menial, human work. Sure they had the Zoids, but apparently they are less expendable than us. So a war broke out and the ancient Zoidians created something they could not control, us. We eliminated most of the Zoidians, but most, like your girlfriend there, were cryogenically frozen."_

"So if you eliminated the ancient Zoidians, why is it that there is no record of this war and much evidence that supports the Death Saur ultimate destruction."

"_Well, would you want future generations to know that the most advanced Zoidian civilization was defeated by papayas?"_

"No, I suppose not. That would be pretty embarrassing."

"_And the evidence was a last request by the Zoidians, to make it look like a battle between them and the Death Saur. So basically we planted it all."_

"Oh, so how did your numbers diminish?"

"_Well unfortunately, by destroying the Zoidians we eliminated our primary source of nutrition."_

"Your source of nutrition involved eating Zoidians?"

"_Oh no, we're not people eaters. The Zoidians provided us food. That was their way of keeping a leash on us, but not even a food restriction could stop the anger. We survived by going out on our own and finding food in random places like near lakes and stuff like that. But the food supply was limited, and we could not sustain our numbers for long. Papayas started to die off and replication was forbidden for we did not want our offspring to suffer. A century ago, the food supply became plentiful again and the last remaining papayas replicated to produce more of us and our numbers slowly grew. We remained in the least populated areas, until we had a strong population and that's when we took over this base."_

"Wow, that's some history. I have another question."

"_Another one? You're kidding, we have a battle to prepare for and...aw forget it, this is the last question because we are launching afterwards." _

"So, what exactly am I infamous for?"

"_You were a threat to this entire operation ever since you first spotted me several years ago."_

"You mean the in the fog of Mount Isolina?"

"_Yes, there."_

"But Moonbay said you were just a hallucination induced by hunger. I can't wait to see the look on her face when I tell her the papaya I saw years ago is now the exact same one trying to take over the world."

"_Van, have you lost your mind? You have just been captured by the most advanced fruit of the planet and the only thing you can think of to do is to brag about your discovery?"_

"Like I said to Fiona, it won't be long until I get out of here."

"_(scoffs) Yeah? And what makes you think you can escape? You are outnumbered in this room with plenty more outside and there is no chance for anyone left to help you."_

Suddenly, there was a bang at the door and who just happened to hobble in?

"Irvine!"

"Hey Van. I got bored with waiting in the infirmary so I came out looking for you. Whoa, need help?"

"Uh, yeah that'd be nice right about now."

Irvine tossed the microwave bazooka thing up to Van. Van caught it and shot the papaya holding him. Then he aimed it at the giant papaya.

"Any last words?" he asked the papaya

"_Just a phrase. Launch the attack!"_

"NO!"

Van shot the papaya and it fell to the ground. The dispatch alarm went off and the papayas rushed immediately to the Zoid launch hangar.

"So what did I miss?" Irvine asked.

"Lots, but now is no the time for explanations. We've got to stop the launch."

"What's your plan?"

"I want you to get to the control tower and enable the security lockdown for the base. Then disable the power systems and make sure the auxiliary power doesn't come on. Meanwhile I'll try to find the others."

"Got it?"

"Yeah"

"Alright, move out."

Van and Irvine took their routes with their independent missions. There were no difficulties in navigating the corridors because all of the papayas had prepared for the launch and attack. Van was searching the rooms for the others, but he just didn't have any luck.

"How am I supposed to find the others if I don't know where the heck they are?"

"WARNING: BASE LOCKDOWN HAS BEEN INITIATED!" came over the loudspeakers

This warning continued for about a minute, and then the alarms and lights went out. Van waited for a second and the auxiliary lights didn't activate so he knew that Irvine had succeeded.

"Good work Irvine" Van announced over the radio.

"No problem, that was easy. But some Zoids left the hangar, what are we going to do?"

"Try to signal any of the other bases, if they don't respond, we will take care of the problem after I find the others, they might be in more serious trouble."

"Acknowledged"

Van was starting to worry about whether he would ever find his friends in this huge base. He turned the next corridor and saw a green light emanating from under the door.

"Hmm, this looks promising."

Van proceeded into the room.

**Meanwhile**

_Squish, squish squash..._automatic papayanese to English translator reactivated. "_How are we supposed to get out of here now! The doors won't open._"

"_I would not worry comrade; at least a hundred got out before the doors shut down. Our leader's death will not be in vain."_

**Back in the briefing hanger**

"_Van Flyheight...you will pay."_

--------------------

**Hmm, I'm brilliant! **

**DarkMetalist: Yes you are. Want a cookie?**

**Raven: I want a cookie!**

**Raven that's rather out of character.**

**Raven: So is everyone else in this story, so why should I be different? **

**More ideas pop up than I can expand on. Please review while I finish this cookie.**

**DarkMetalist: Yes, eat the cookies.**


	9. Recover

**Disclaimer: Me no own Zoids.**

**Raven: Work on your grammar you...not...good...person.**

**Raven? What's going on?**

**Raven: I...don't...know.**

**DarkMetlaist?**

**DarkMetalist: I didn't do anything.**

**Raven: Likely...story.**

**Chapter 9**

**Recover**

What Van saw in the room came as shock and awe to him. Throughout the open space there were three levels with open rails on each. The space was arranged to form a giant "T" where Van had just entered from the base of that "T". Lining the walls of the room were capsules filled with a green liquid and people who appeared to be in suspended animation. There were semicircular apparatuses around their heads.

"What were the papayas doing to the people in here?" Van asked himself as he inspected the capsules.

He proceeded to walk through the corridor, sweeping the weapon from left to right not sure if there were still any papaya operatives left behind. He soon came upon Moonbay's capsule. Van looked around for a latch of some sort to open it. He found one just above the clear green section and pulled the section out. The capsule's illumination powered down and the clear section retracted downwards allowing all of the fluid to spill onto the floor. Moonbay fell on her hands and knees coughing up some of the fluid.

"Moonbay are you all right?" Van asked in a concerned manner.

"Does it look like I'm all right?" she snapped back quickly.

Moonbay looked up to see who it was and realized her mistake.

"I'm sorry Van; I was just upset from the struggle before. What happened?"

"Well it appears that everyone on the base has ended up here, the papayas are headed towards the weapons destruction facility, and I am here trying to find people. You're the first I've released. Do you have a clue to what the papayas were doing in here?"

"Uh uh" Moonbay responded shaking her head from side to side "I was just put in the capsule."

"Well then you stay in this area and get the others out, and I'll go find Fiona."

Van left Moonbay to her duties and proceeded with his search mission. He took the elevator to the other levels and checked the floors hoping to find Fiona. On the third level Van came up to another door, this time with an orange light under it. He tried to get in, but the handle wouldn't budge. Van simply kicked the door in to find Fiona hooked up to a similar machine as the others, but with more wires and devices hooked up around her. He found a latch on her door and tried to release it in the same matter. However the final turn couldn't be done so he just melted the housing of the latch with his weapon and this loosened it up a bit, allowing him to unlock the capsule. Before Fiona could fall out, Van held out his arms out to catch her. Once she had become stable Van helped her out of the capsule.

"Fiona, they didn't do anything terrible to you did they?" Van asked while removing the various devices.

"No" she answered "I'm fine."

"Good, let's meet up with the others."

They left the room and headed into the main chamber where Moonbay and everyone she had liberated so far from the capsules, were working to get the others out. Van was still trying to make sense of why everyone was hooked up to these devices when he stepped on a clipboard. He picked it up and started to look it over. The heading of the papers was "Who Knew About the Weapons Destruction Facility" and there were various numbers that corresponded to the capsules. Some of the numbers had red X's while others had checkmarks. Fiona's capsule assignment had a star, which may have suggested that she knew the most about the base or it indicated that she was an ancient Zoidian, explaining the fact that she was kept in a separate room. Once having looked the papers over, Van headed to the central area of the third level to address everyone of the current situation.

"Attention everyone! I want to update you on the current situation."

The central area below became quiet.

"While you have been in suspended animation, much has occurred in the last few hours. This base was taken over by the flying papayas with the intent of setting it up as a staging area for their attack. They plan to take over planet Zi. They have the information necessary to infiltrate the weapons destruction facility and take the ammunition within. This may seem like a hopeless situation right now with us reorienting ourselves to the surroundings of this room and the base under lockdown, but we shall not let them succeed!"

A cheer erupted from the central area and quieted again to hear the rest of Van's speech.

"There are still some Zoids left in the hangar and you will have to fight back for your Zoids. Let's not make this any more difficult for us than it needs to be. Use the emergency cockpit release on the outside, and obliterate the papayas within. Let's go!"

A roar of approval came from below as the soldiers and others stormed out of the room.

"Uh Lieutenant Flyheight?" a random soldier asked

"Yes?"

"It's dark out here."

"Oh that's right" Van remembered and hit his head "I had Irvine cut the power after he locked down the base. I'll get him to turn it back on."

"Van to Irvine come in." he said through the radio.

_static_

"Irvine, please respond."

_static_

"Irvine where are you?"

"_Irvine isn't here right now; I could take a message for him._"

"Who is this? Irvine don't play around, this isn't funny."

"_I'm sorry sir, but Irvine is unavailable at this moment in time. Now if you'll excuse me...I've got a world to conquer._"

"Oh crap, giant leader papaya."

Van began to analyze the situation in deep thought. However his first priority was to get people out into the battlefield.

"Dr. D, are you here?" he called out into the crowd.

From within the crowd, a single hand went up. Van went through the crowd and faced Dr. D.

"What could I do for you Van?" he asked

"Is it possible for you to modify this weapon to serve as a temporary power source for the hallway lights?"

"Oh sure, that shouldn't be a problem at all."

Dr. D walked over to a service panel on the wall. He pulled off the cover, dug around in the wiring a bit, and pulled out a pair of wires. He hooked them up to the leads of a capsule that was empty, but was still full of the fluid. He then took Van's weapon and fired it at the capsule. There were bubbles emanating from within the capsule, and slowly, the hallway lights were coming online. They were dim, but there none-the-less there was sufficient illumination to navigate the halls.

"I realized that the fluid we were submersed in was a strong electrolyte. All it needed was a charge and voila, instant battery." Dr. D explained "Now you can take your weapon without having to leave it to power these lights." He handed the weapon back to Van.

While everyone else was headed towards the Zoid hangar bay, Van rushed to the control tower. He found Irvine bound and gagged on the floor wriggling to get free. Upon closer examination of the room, he also found a single window of the control tower that had not been locked down and broken glass around. Van went to free Irvine.

"That crazy papaya just came through the door leading from the main base." Irvine explained as he was being untied "It tried to escape by unlocking the base, but I had already locked out the controls. The papaya tied me up with its tentacles and continued to hack the system. By the time you called, it was able to get that window open and went straight through."

"Van how is it up there?" Col. Herman came in over the radio.

"Well, the their leader escaped but everything is fine here. How are you and the troops doing?"

"We've almost recovered all of the Zoids and we're about ready to go into battle." the Colonel responded

"Alright, I'll get the base out of lockdown and you can leave, I'll join you as soon as I'm done here."

"Irvine, get this base combat ready. Then join us in battle."

"Okay, Van."

Van proceeded to the Zoid holding hangars where everyone else was. When he got there, Van saw a mass of orange goo in the center of the hangar and flamethrower operators were burning the stuff.

"As you can see Van," Dr. D said as he approached. "there won't be another threat of papayas from this mess. All of their parts are being burned as we speak."

"I have some bad news Van." Col. Herman stated as he walked up. "I forgot to mention it to you over the radio. The doors are badly damaged from the papayas trying to escape and they won't budge. We would have tried to blow out the doors with our missiles, but that would be a waste of our resources. So I was wondering if you could help."

"By slicing the doors apart with the Blade Liger?" Van stated, completing the Colonel's thoughts.

"Exactly"

"Alright, have everyone ready to exit the hangar as soon as I get the doors open."

**Five minutes later: **

"The soldiers will be ready to move out on your signal Van." Col. Herman said from within his Zoid.

Van jumped into his cockpit and closed the cockpit visor. The controls began to power up in front of him, and the blade controls became operational. He lined up the Blade Liger as far as he could from the doors while the others were gathered along the sides of the hangar. The blades extended and were positioned in front of the Liger. With a roar from the Liger, it rushed forward and broke through the doors, leaving a gaping hole in them.

"Irvine, any luck getting the base out of lockdown?" Van asked.

"I'm sorry Van, this is going to take longer than I thought. You're going to have to break through the outer perimeter barrier."

Van continued to run towards the next barrier. The barrier broke into several large fragments that were scattered over the ground.

"Everyone move out!" Van shouted to the others as he continued out of the base premises.

The others moved in a quick, organized fashion out of the base and into the battle. Capt. O'Connell gave a whistle.

"It's going to cost us a bundle to get those defenses fixed."

**Now this is the chapter with the details.**

**Raven: IT IS INDEED.**

**Are you alright?**

**Raven: YES I AM, NOTHING IS WRONG.**

**Okay. The story will continue to unfold.**


	10. Showdown at the WDF

**Wow, I never expected for this spur of the moment fanfiction to get all the way to chapter 10. **

**Raven: You would have gotten there sooner if you hadn't procrastinated.**

**DarkMetalist: Hey! You're supposed to be under my control!**

**Raven: What?**

**I thought something was going on.**

**DarkMetalist: I didn't say anything.**

**Raven: Yes you did, stop lying for once would you?**

**Disclaimer: You should know this by now, but just in case, I don't own Zoids...or Halo (just throwing it in).**

**Papayas needed the Zoids because they wanted a defense other than papaya juice and vines. **

**Chapter 10**

**Showdown at the Weapons Destruction Facility**

"Here is the plan." Van began over radio communications "We will need to eliminate any opposing forces present at the facility. There are a few Zoids controlled by the papayas, so decimating their forces should not be a problem. Capt. O'Connell and Col. Herman will accompany me to the facility. All other pilots are to establish a perimeter around the facility to ensure that no Zoid leaves the area."

The troop of Zoids proceeded to their destination. It was a long journey because the facility was to be completely isolated from the surrounding population. Security was upgraded following the takeover by the blue devil. Radio silence was maintained, but some of the pilots were getting bored. With the prospect of not meeting up with the enemy soon, one pilot decided to lighten a somewhat tense atmosphere. He turned on the private radio in his cockpit and tuned in to the closest music channel.

"_I am a transporter of the wasteland"_ was playing. The pilot pulled his hand back to the controls when he accidentally switched on the troop-wide radio system.

"_I never just know where the dusty road will take me to"_ was heard by everyone.

"Pilot 117, turn off your radio" Van said via separate radio system.

"My apologies sir" 117 responded and turned off the radio

"Darn Moonbay and her smash hit album." Van said

"I HEARD THAT!" said Moonbay

"Whoops" Van said "Sorry Moonbay" and he turned off the speaker function of the radio.

The rest of the journey was mostly uneventful for the next 100 kilometers. Several minutes later, the troop of Zoids was within radar and viewing distance of the facility.

**In the WDF:**

"_Sir, enemy troops detected at 10 kilometers" _reported a papaya operative.

"_Do not panic" _responded the papayas' leader. "_We will_ _have everything we need in the next 15 minutes."_

**The Field:**

"Lt. Flyheight" alerted pilot 117** "**there is a large orange cloud surrounding the base.**"**

"Okay then, slight change of plans. Capt. O'Connell and Col. Herman will still accompany me to the facility. All other pilots will still establish a perimeter around the base, but at a further distance than expected.**"**

The pilots took their positions around the base and Van's group proceeded into the gas cloud. Though there was the obvious danger of the sleep cloud stopping Van's group in their tracks, Col. Herman and Capt. O'Connell proceeded into the cloud knowing that Van would have a plan. Sure enough, Van had one. He braced the blade liger against the ground and activated his boosters. The intakes took in the gas and burned it along with the fuel in the booster. This cleared enough of orange cloud for them to pass through. The base's battered defenses provided easy access to the facility.

**The control room:**

"_Sir, the humans have penetrated through our gas cloud, what do we do?"_

"_Continue operations, and have two other papayas meet me in the hangar." _

**The facility:**

Van's group entered the facility and encountered the small force they were up against.

"_So we meet again Van Flyheight."_

"I guess so."

The fight was set up like this: Blade Liger (Van) against Shield Liger (papaya leader), and Goldulouses (papayas) vs. Command Wolves (O'Connell and Herman). Van's group was the first to advance and fire at the papayas. The papaya's Zoids took the hits then dispersed in different directions. O'Connell followed one papaya to the control room, Colonel Herman followed another to the main hangar, and Van went after the leader towards the heart of the facility. Van dictated new orders as they departed.

"Captain O'Connell, once you reach the control room, engage the locks for all locations within the facility that house the weapons. Then activate the ventilation system to get rid of this gas cloud."

"Understood"

"Colonel Herman, upon your arrival at the hangar, open the doors. Once the cloud has been cleared, call in some ground troops to go through this place and destroy all papayas."

"Roger"

Van continued to follow the leader into a large central chamber. The walls were charred and there was a hole at least 100 meters above his head. To him, this looked like a smokestack.

"_The battle ends here Flyheight."_

Once the leader had reached the wall of the room, it turned around and shot at the Blade Liger, which the Liger took without much damage. The Blade Liger then extended its blades and charged toward the Shield Liger. The leader activated the shields, but they only prolonged the attack for the moment. Once Van retreated for another attack with the blades, the other liger's shield's had failed. Van charged again at the liger, but this time, the Shield Liger swung its claw and (by pure 1 in a trillion chance) knocked out the Blade Liger's computer.

"I knew I should have gotten the computer serviced after that last battle."

The blades still advanced and severed the head of the shield liger from the body. Oil was spraying out of the body and sparks were flying out of the head. Before the massive oil puddle had ignited and consumed the Zoid, the leader had ejected out of the cockpit. Van had also come out of his cockpit. Now the two were face to...papaya in a fighting stance. The leader was still suffering from injuries from the last encounter in the hangar.

"_So, how do we end this final meeting?"_

"It doesn't have to be."

"_What do you mean?"_

"There is usually a peaceful negotiation that could be reached."

"_I'm listening"_ the papaya had its vine crossed behind its...out of sight.

"Here's a deal, we localize an area in Zi for you and your kind to live in peace and you don't try to take over the planet."

"_Sounds interesting"_

"Do you agree?" Van asked while holding his hand out.

"_I agree"_ the leader said and took Van's hand by its vine. _"But...having the entire world to ourselves sounds so much better."_

The leader tensed its vine and was going to hurl Van across the room, but Van was prepared and cut the vine with his father's knife. The papaya squished in pain and rose to avoid being cut by the knife. It continued to rise to the opening above them.

"_You won't be able to stop me now!"_ it yelled from above.

Unfortunately for the papaya (fortunately for Zi), what Van and the leader were in was indeed a smokestack; and like most smokestacks, they emit hot gases. What prevented them from initially burning up was the fact that they were in an auxiliary portion of the smokestack. As the papaya rose higher, it got hotter and it was being cooked alive. The papaya was too distracted with its earlier wounds and plan so it didn't notice the temperature increase. It reached the opening of the smokestack and suddenly fell 100 meters into the burning mass of what was once a Shield Liger.

"Van to Capt. O'Connell, how are things?"

"I've got the base ventilation system online and the rooms containing explosive material sealed."

"Good work O'Connell. Col. Herman, what's your status?"

"The hangar doors were open and the ground troops are entering the facility now that the sleep cloud has been removed."

"The troops have flamethrowers, right?"

"They do."

"Good, just make sure you tell them to be careful while using the flamethrowers, there are explosives here."

"Acknowledged"

Van walks out of the chamber over to Moonbay in the hangar. He informs her that the Blade Liger had been incapacitated and needs transport for repair.

**Several minutes later:**

Van and Moonbay rode back to Red River Base in the Gustav. The Blade Liger was on the transport rig. Van fell asleep in the cockpit and was awoken when they got to the base. Van walked a couple of meters towards his quarters when he suddenly collapsed.

**I inadvertently wrote chapter 11 because I was on such a roll, it was crazy**. **And yeah, sorry it took so long. **

**Raven: I'm sure people were lining up to read this story.**

**The Shield Liger lost its head, that's kind of disturbing, and gory, but Raven did it first.**

**Raven: Insignificant soldier.**

**It was a small challenge to go through this chapter to find all the he's and faces of a papaya which has no human defining structures.**

**DarkMetalist: Review please.**

**Raven: I think he needs something better to say.**

**Well, that's his punishment for controlling you.**

**Raven: I don't think he was doing it to be mean.**

**DarkMetalist, you stop controlling Raven right this instant!**

**DarkMetalist: Aw, and I was having so much fun.**

**Message to pApAIYA lOVER () : I'm on a creative streak. Stranger things have happened.**


	11. Dinner

**Final disclaimer: I don't own Zoids.**

**If you have been following this story since its beginnings about a year ago, I recommend going back and speed read chapters 1 – 10. There have been minor changes from here to there, but not enough to make you read _everything_ over again.**

**Raven: Reading it all over again would be torturous.**

**DarkMetalist: Yeah, but those of you who have just read the story for the first time, did just read everything.**

**Chapter 11**

**Dinner**

"Van" Fiona whispered.

Van stirred in his sleep.

"Van wake up."

He slowly opened his eyes to see Fiona hovering over him.

"You've been asleep for the last two days now, I was getting worried." Fiona said.

"You're telling me that the attack of the flying papayas was just a dream?" Van asked.

"No Van, the attack of the flying papayas did happen; you've just been asleep for a long time."

"Oh...what's the status of the papaya threat then?"

"Every last papaya has been burnt and accounted for; and the cleanup has just about finished for the base and the facility. And Van?"

"Yeah?"

"Our dinner reservations for tonight are set."

**Later that evening: **

They had chosen an outdoor restaurant "Zi Moonlight Gardens". It was difficult to get a reservation here since it was the most popular restaurant in all of Zi. During the day it was beautiful enough. The lush green gardens and colorful assortment of flowers surrounded the diners in an outdoor environment. During the night, it was even more beautiful. Candle lights sat on the table accenting the floral arrangements placed on the tables. Electric accent lighting brought attention to the bush sculptures and leads the "private" diners to a secluded location. Fireflies circled the garden in a dance of light. The twin moons are visible almost every night with stunning clarity. The stars fill the remaining void that is the night sky. Van was wearing a dark blue tuxedo with a red bowtie. Fiona had on a pink sparkling dress that had no back or straps. She wore magenta high heels and carried a matching purse. The two were seated in one of the secluded parts of the restaurant.

"Wonderful night, isn't it Van?"

"Not as wonderful as you Fiona."

"Van" she blushed "you're so sweet."

They were leaning in for a kiss when suddenly Thomas ran through the bushes to the table. Van and Fiona were in mid kiss when they saw Thomas with his mouth open and his index finger pointed at them, shaking.

"Miss Fiona! I thought you loved me!"

"Don't raise your voice Thomas; other people are trying to have their dinner."

"I'm sorry." he bent down on one knee and got closer to Fiona.

"You better not be proposing!" Van warned.

"Van!" Fiona scolded.

"Fiona" Thomas began. "We've known each other a long time and I've admired you, from afar. I was wondering, what do you think of me?"

"Thomas" Fiona began, taking his hand. "You are a truly wonderful person. I also think it was sweet of you to buy me this ring. But..."

"_Oh no" _Thomas thought.

"You're not the one for me. No lavish gift or public action could change that. Now don't get your hopes down Thomas, I'm sure you'll find the right girl someday."

Thomas was truly saddened by this, but he did understand when he would overstep bounds. He backed out of the secluded area by the main entrance and saw a girl around 20 years old sitting at a table by herself, sipping wine. She was in a, backless, strapless red dress and her high heels were light red. There was a rose stuck in the back of her bundled brown hair. Thomas decided to introduce himself.

"Hi, I'm Thomas."

"Rosetta" the girl responded sullenly.

"I see that you're alone."

"Yeah, my date never showed up; probably flirting with other girls. I was planning to break up with him this evening anyway."

"No one as beautiful as you should be left alone, especially at a restaurant famous for dating."

"That was incredibly corny." she scoffed.

"_He looks good and his feelings are genuine" _she thought while looking into his eyes. _"I'll give him a chance."_

"So...Thomas was it?" she asked

Thomas nodded.

"What do you do for a living?"

"I am a member of the Guardian Force." He stood up and took a heroic stance. "Protecting Zi and its entire people."

Rosetta smiled.

"Very interesting, tell me more."

While the conversation continued, Van and Fiona watched. There was laughter from both Thomas and Rosetta. Soon after, Thomas and Rosetta walked out of the restaurant together, arm in arm.

Fiona giggled.

"That was fast" she said.

"I never knew Thomas to be good with other girls." Van said.

"He didn't even know it himself. All Thomas needed was a push in the right direction."

"And you gave it to him."

Fiona and Van clinked glasses celebrating their night together and Thomas' newfound relationship.

"Oh, Fiona before I forget." Van said before Fiona sipped her wine. "I have something for you."

Van ran through the bushes and returned with the sack of salt.

"OH VAN, WHAT A WONDERFUL GIFT!" Fiona exclaimed.

She immediately took a cup of salt and added it to her wine and food. Van mentally cringed, but kept up his smile. Before Fiona ate anything with the excessive salt, she gave Van a kiss on the lips.

**Fin**

**I'm not a fashion designer or love expert. Also, rapid transitions and plot twists are very dangerous and should not be used by the faint of heart. **

**Raven: That much salt can't be good for you.**

**I'm thinking it's a possible side effect of the cryogenic process.**

**DarkMetalist: Well, I guess that's it for us.**

**Raven: Right, we'll see you later.**

**Final thoughts anyone? **


End file.
